


Losing the Plot

by MrProphet



Category: Thursday Next - Jasper Fforde
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 14:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10698723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	Losing the Plot

"I know who you are," Friday observed. "You're the Unitary Authority of Warrington Cat."

"Wrong, but almost interesting." The cat spoke without moving his lips, his lugubrious voice marked by a distinct American accent. "He's a distant cousin, but he mostly looks after the Bookworld. I wouldn't expect an unexpected visitor to know anything about him."

"I'm not just any old visitor," Friday explained. "I'm Friday Next."

"Ah," the cat looked up form under lazy eyes. "The Traveller."

"Traveller?"

"Everyone knows that Thursday's Child has far to go."

Friday blinked. "That's terrible."

"Perhaps; but in fictional worlds, puns have a rare power."

"Where am I then, if this isn't the Bookworld?" Friday asked. He looked around. He had a sensitivity to time that was now almost unique and, as his eyes adjusted to the strange light of his surroundings, he began to make out a flicker, as though the world were not a continuum, but a series of still images.

"This is the Filmworld," the cat replied.

"I thought there  _wasn't_  a Filmworld."

The cat scoffed. " _They_  like to say so. Inferior art form, entirely contextualised within the visual and auditory medium leaving no requirement for user feedback and interactivity." He scoffed. "They wouldn't say that if you'd invented time travel; they could go back in time and watch the unironically macho version of  _Top Gun_ , before the subtextual feedback kicked in. I wouldn't recommend it though," he added.

The cat got up, stretched, and paced slowly around Friday. "So, you're a film-jumper," he observed. "Don't get many of those. The most absorbing films are, by definition, the hardest to get into, so it takes a special mind to find the doors. Welcome to the Metatext; the foundation of the Filmworld.

"I am the guardian of the thematic links, the narrative devices, homages and recurring motifs that link one film to another. You may call me Garfield."


End file.
